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[url="http://www.ukeschool.com/ukulele/tuning/my_dog_has_fleas.html"]http://www.ukeschool.com/ukulele/tuning/my_dog_has_fleas.html[/url]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1341495014' post='1720010'] It's just out of the question. Anyone found with blocks on a P-Bass must be lashed until they drop, kneecapped, hung drawn and quartered, then cremated in public on prime-time TV. Twice. Or until they agree to a neck with dots. [/quote] Unless you're Duck Dunn.

The preamp I use with my Full Circle has a phase switch when I'm in a room that tries to feed back. It helps greatly. I also keep the brown washcloth I use to wipe down the neck in the f-hole closer to the amplifier. Finally, my Full Circle is mounted "upside down" (see the Fishman web site), which takes some of the edge and quack out of the sound. I don't have feedback problems. As far as the drummer playing too loudly, don't go there. Play softer instead. This will make the rest of the band get on to the drummer to back off.

I have my Full Circle installed "upside down" (see the Fishman website). This takes some edge and quack out of the pickup and I experience no feedback issues at all.

Yes, to make sure the bridge is both placed correctly and perfectly upright, a combination of pencil marks connecting the f hole notches to center the feet and the template to assure vertical alignment are both good to have.

That's alright, "My dog has fleas" also.

I use the new Fender 9050CL 45-60-80-105 set. I switched to them from rounds a couple of years ago and haven't gone back, after almost 40 years of playing bass. They growl when you want them to; are mellow when you need them to; are completely consistent from string-to-string and up the neck, last forever, balanced in feel, and good value-for-money in price. They are more of a steel wrap instead of chrome.

Yes. That could be a problem. Switch everything back (slowly, carefully) to the old pickguard and see if you still have the problem. If not, then you will have to sort it out to make sure the pot lugs don't touch the pickguard. If you are still having the problem, then unfortunately, it sounds like you may have damaged a wire about the pickup or the controls in your hurry to change pickguards. If you have an ohmmeter, take the hot lead loose from the volume pot and measure the pickup to see that it's in range for dc ohms. If it reads too high or low, or won't stabilise, then you have a problem. The first thing to do is to touch a soldering iron to the terminals on the pickup to make sure the leads haven't pulled loose from the coil wire. If the pickup reads as it should, then check to see that a wire has not been pulled from a pot, tone circuit, or jack. Sometimes gremlins just creep in (for example, from the flux not completely evaporating as the circuit is soldered), and you may have to redo all the solder joints. Sorry this is late - just noticed the thread.

It sounds to me like the pickup is microphonic or shorting out and needs replacing.

Sheldon did my "half-fan" neck for my version of a P-J. It's here: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/174777-and-now-for-something-completely-different-in-a-pj/page__p__1632811__hl__fanned__fromsearch__1#entry1632811"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/174777-and-now-for-something-completely-different-in-a-pj/page__p__1632811__hl__fanned__fromsearch__1#entry1632811[/url] Some old injuries came back to haunt me, and this was the solution to keep playing on a regular basis. Yes, all the above: tone, clarity, ergonomics, etc. It's not as much of a dramatic difference as his fully fanned instruments, but I wanted to keep some "traditional" P tone in the mix. The main item is the strings: I now use 60 and 80 for the D and A strings instead of the more common 65-85 in a lot of sets, with better consistency of tone and intonation, both across the strings and up the neck.

I like the flexibility and durability of a Fishman Full Circle. I have mine mounted "upside down" (see the website) that takes some edge off the articulation so there isn't that "quack" in the sound of a piezo.

[quote name='LawrenceH' timestamp='1338507806' post='1675754'] Seems a bit of a waste to have a maple-board fretless [i]without[/i] a J pickup at the bridge. Model J maybe, or something a little overwound. Burp city! [/quote] +1 I recommend something like the new Fender Noiseless pickup or the DiMarzio Ultra Jazz so you have a pickup that balances the P pickup in both character and output, and is noiseless as well.

This is a little late, but while she's at it, in addition, she might consider changing out the tone cap as well from .047 or .1 to a .033 in order to get a little more grind that way as well. And if she ever wants to go back to "old school" tone, she won't have to change out the pots, just wire a 500kohm resistor over the outside two lugs and it will effectively lower the overall resistance back to 250kohms. The drawback is that if she uses audio taper pots, she will have a slightly different "ramp" through the range.

I pack everything: bass, combo amp, small extension speaker cab, music, extra bass guitar for backup, accessories, stand, etc., into my (USA) Chevrolet Aveo hatchback, which is the same as the GM/Daewoo Kalos. The rear seats fold forward, and the neck of the bass in its soft case is positioned between the two front seats, with the body placed to the driver's side in the rear so the neck clears the shifter.

For jazz/dance band pizz gigs which are usually amplified, on my ply CCB I've worked over to my playing style, I'm using Bel Canto's GDA with a Spiro 3885.5W E string with a slight scoop on the fingerboard and action of 4-5mm on the G string gradually increasing to 7-8mm on the E string, and a lesser crown radius on the fingerboard to better facilitate pizz (measured vertically to each string at the end of the fingerboard directly under each string on the radius.)

[quote name='sarah thomas' timestamp='1338791213' post='1679170'] Why do some have a bevel? There must be a reason. [/quote] It's called the "Romberg" bevel. It's there for the added string excursion necessary for an E string to speak properly. It's also sometimes found on cellos. Yo Yo Ma actually has a concave bevel on his cello (like a trough). Sorry it's Wiki, but I have found Wiki to be, like the USA "World Book Encyclopedia" (American spelling without the dipthong), a good starting point for future research, an article about Romberg: [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernhard_Romberg"]http://en.wikipedia....ernhard_Romberg[/url] And a brief summary of all things fingerboard, including the bevel, from a respected USA shop: [url="http://www.gollihurmusic.com/faq/15-FINGERBOARDS_FOR_UPRIGHT_BASS_WHATS_TO_KNOW.html"]http://www.gollihurm...TS_TO_KNOW.html[/url]

One example of how it appears that way: metal is, of course, more dense (heavier) than gut. So it is common to wrap the gut E string, and sometimes also the A string, with a metal wrap, just like a standard all steel or synthetic core string, for tuning stability. So this results in these two strings actually being smaller in diameter than would be expected if the string were all gut, which for an E string is really large in diameter by comparison.

Try using the neck pickup with the volume and treble turned down somewhat and see what happens. If there is too much harmonic development present, the tuner may try to read the overtones rather than the fundamental frequency.

[indent=1]Getting a big tone is as much the player as the equipment. I played in a blues band a little over ten years ago, and at a blues festival another player came up to me to ask what kind of flats or nylons I had on my bass. I had Roto Swingbass 45-60-80-105. Conversely, at a gig last weekend playing mostly '70's horn band pop, I had to have enough presence to cut the mix that everyone thought my Fender 9050CL flats were rounds.[/indent]

I use a Carvin MB-12 combo with a 12, 6.5 & tweeter. Very smooth & linear. The only limitation is when I use it for EB pushing a little harder, then I add a 1X15 cab to it. But on its own it's great for DB.

Damn. Hope it all sorts out without too much cash outlay.

Fender 346 heavy. Large enough I don't lose my grasp. Heavy enough to give a good articulation, but not too heavy. Some years ago a friend of mine who used to own a music store had a gross in stock when he went out of business. He gave me a great deal. I sincerely doubt (I'm 50 years old) I'll ever have to purchase picks again in my lifetime.

What do you mean by "best"? There is no single "best" string. Depending on the tone you want, the style you play, your budget, how your bass interacts with the string, and otherwise what you need out of a string, there are a lot of variables. Cheapest isn't always crap, and most expensive isn't always desireable. Longevity is an overlooked factor. For example, if you need the brightest possible tone and have the gigs to back it up, changing Rotosound Swingbass every gig is not out of the question. But if you play only occasionally and have a tight budget, something like Fender Flats 9050CL which are economical and last a long, long time may be the string. If you want "THE" Sir Macca tone, then you're going to have to pay for the TI's or Optimas, and so forth. And in spite of the marketing hype, having tried just about everything out there for the past 36+ years playing bass, all of the standard brands (not the imported strings or the "boutique" strings) of nickel plated roundwounds are about the same, good all-round strings with reasonable tone and life for the average player.

It sounds like, all things considered, you got a really fine P-bass. These two details have been standard fare for Fender since the first P-bass in 1951. What kind of tuners do you have? If you have the large traditional Schaller/Elephant ear pickups, changing them out with Hipshot Ultralights will save about 1/4 kg in weight. This will change the resonance of the neck (as well as cure any "neck dive). Also, playing a slightly heavier string, and the resulting tightening of the truss rod, will also change the "mechanical impedance" of the neck, changing the overall resonance, and may help the dead spot also.

[quote name='MrTaff' timestamp='1335968792' post='1638799'] What are they new Fender 9050's like for tension and lifespan? I tried the old ones years ago and found them way to tight compared to the 7050 rounds and after a few months I could already hear the E going dead, no impressed at all. [/quote] Like all flats, they have a tad more tension than rounds of the same gauge because of the flatwound outer wrap having more mass (no space between the windings). But the particular set I play, the 9050CL, 45-60-80-105, is particularly well balanced, so you don't notice a tad more tension. And since the middle strings are one step lighter, instead of the 65-85 of most "medium" sets, it's just about the same overall. As far as life, well, I've had my current set going on two years now, albeit I gig more with double bass than electric bass at this stage of my playing. I've always been really prone to killing E strings, sometimes changing just the E string both nights of a weekend gig, even though the rest of the set is fine, and this one lasts the longest I've ever had in 36+ years of playing bass and trying every string out there. If you look closely, the outer wrap is ever so slightly narrower, and therefore the string is more flexible and retains its overtone colour much longer. Also, I don't know about pricing in the UK, but in the USA the "street" price is very economical compared to the cost of some of the more esoteric "boutique" strings.